Step 1: Get a large plank of wood

The piece of wood that I used for this chair was 7 feet long, 11 inches wide and 1 3/4 inches thick. I originally used driftwood planks to make these chairs because they look nice and are free. If you choose to use found wood be careful that it has not been pressure treated.

Step 2: Cut the plank in two

Cut the plank into two pieces. For this chair I made one piece 40 inches long and the other 51. The dimensions can be varied to fit your preferences.

Step 3: Make the back leg

Cut two inches of wood off of the sides of the board starting 15 inches from one end of the plank.

Step 4: Cut a hole in the second plank

Place the tapered end of the first board 15 1/2 inches from the bottom of the second board and trace around the edge. Remove enough wood to slide the first board through the hole in the second at an angle.

Step 5: Try it out

Fit the two pieces together and try it out. If you are not satisfied with something here is your chance to fix it.

Step 6: Fine tune the angles

The planks will not intersect at right angles, so some wood will need to be trimmed. This picture shows the marking process for this step.

Step 7: Fine tune part 2

Use a saw to redefine the angles.

Step 8: Finish & Relax

I wanted to remove the glitter on the boards so I resurfaced the plank with a chisel. However the only necessary step here is to relax in your new chair.

These are erroneously called "Bog Chairs" or refereed to as period Viking or Saxon chairs. The earliest example of these chairs come from a 1934 Boy Scouts of America Handbook. I am not knocking the chairs themselves mind yiou, only the concept that somehow these rudimentary chairs are at the level of craftmeship that ancient woodworkers were able to prodcue. Simply look at the Glastonbury Chair or viking Box Chair as an example of "simple" chairs.

This is a very cool instructable!! I LOVE IT! been looking for plans for this chair for what seems like forever! TY for sharing this Sir. now my search is over & I can get to work making some of these to sell. :)

I believe the vikings also made this kind of chair. I saw it on a norse wood working site. Because you have a seemingly large workshop, it would be cool if you routed the edges, and carved an intricate desigh into it. you also might think about staining it as well. Nice Instructable!! +

I agree! I like the sleek, modern design, but it could appeal to a wider variety of people if you add carvings and stain and seal it to keep off the splinters. I'll bet you can sell a ton of those if you don't already.

I may add carvings to my next chair (expect plank chair 2.0 shortly) but I no longer believe in staining wood. If the chair is kept reasonably dry it will last a very long time, I dislike the toxins in varnishes and stains (cabinetmakers have a high incidence of nasal cancer), and I like the look of worn wood. Additionally, staining will not guarantee that you wont get splinters.

cabinet makers have high nasal cancer incidence. im sorry my friend, my dad is a cabinet maker and as long as you wear a respirator while staining or while your in the stain booth my dad (or me for that matter) have never had any nasal problems. if your going in the booth just for a short while i usually hold my breath. Good instructable +

I think the point he meant to make wasn't that stainers get nose cancer, but that wood stain is a dangerous, toxic chemical and that by not buying it he is not contributing to the creation of something that will eventually be a deadly waste product.

These days, at least in Canada, PT wood is made with a copper compound rather than the old arsenic compound. This has been around for a while as this was the case when I started working for a building supply store back in 2004.

We used to make these for scout outings! I love them, comfortable!!! Definately heavy enough to only be for campsite camping not backpacking! I am an EMT and after seeing this instructable, made one while on a 24 hour shift! Only really took about 40 minutes...

Ok you granola-eating hippies. Chill out. Pressure treated wood is still available. When it went on the EPA's blacklist, wood producers wisely ramped up production and, though the supply is almost gone, it is still occasionally available at the less tree-hugging lumber yards, though getting harder to find. Although arsenic is a Very Bad Thing(tm), the health hazard is primarily to infants and small children and it's an issue as to how much contact they have with the material. For a child's playset, pressure-treated wood would be stupid. For a picnic table with small children around, it probably wouldn't be the best idea. But for adult-used furniture, made by an occasional builder, *especially for items that only see occasional use*, it seems to make a lot of sense. Granted, I wouldn't make dinner plates out of the stuff, but if you're only going to be using it for 10-80 hours a year and you aren't licking it, sitting naked on it, or sticking the lumber into your more intimate orifices, then I really don't think it's a big deal.

wow, thanks for the lecture. actually, lumber companies are still making "pressure treated" wood, just not with the arsenic. The new chemicals they're treating it with will cause most nails to corrode quicker, so now we get to pay extra for the right fasteners.

Right -- the EPA is a perfect example of a government entity that once had a real mission, and an important one. As years went by, however, a natural progression would have been for its bureaucracy to get smaller as the longstanding dangers -- especially the worst ones -- were weeded out. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is another egregious example. However, as any of us who have worked in Big Government know all too well, Mission Number One has nothing to do with the published mission statement. Maintaining and growing the bureaucracy is Job One, and everything follows from that. You won't get promoted or get a raise by conquering some Evil Thing -- that only happens if you identify another one and convince everyone that danger lurks everywhere. Which is why the Endangered Species list at first included eagles and Kodiak bears, but now has sunk to protecting microscopic, irrelevant insects, bait fish and local fungus. EPA never managed to show that deck-builders or even people at pressure-treating facilities had a higher cancer rate, but they rammed through their silliness anyhow, based largely on the theory that some kids might chew on the deck boards. If your kids are that poorly supervised .... well, perhaps it's Darwin at work and that bloodline should be shortened.